Chris Guidry is kind of a hair genius. If you want your hair to look like Madonna’s, Nicole Kidman’s or Anna Wintour’s, you ask Chris (he’s styled all three of the celebrities). So when he recommends products, we sit down and pay attention.

The great thing about Chris is he doesn’t BS you. If he doesn’t like a product, he’ll say so—and he’ll steer you toward a better alternative. And if he loves a product? Let’s just say his favorites work sheer magic on hair. So without further ado, here are Chris’s two favorite Aveda products, and how to use them.

Source: Aveda

Beautifying Oil

Sometimes the simplest products are the best. Aveda’s Beautifying Composition oil is a fragrant blend of organic olive and safflower oils that’s perfect for moisturizing your skin, nails or hair. It’s also Chris’s all-time favorite product. “I love it,” he says. “I think it’s one of the best products Aveda makes. For the price and the results, you can’t beat it.”

Beautifying Oil out-performs its peers because unlike other oils, it can actually penetrate the hair cuticle.

“The good thing about Beautifying Oil is the molecules are small enough to absorb into your hair,” he says. “Therefore, your hair gets the nourishment, moisture and benefits from oil, without any weight. Your hair will be soft, shiny and have movement.”

Chris says this versatile product can be used several ways for hair—you can apply it to wet hair or blow-dry it in. Depending on the size of your hair cuticle, you’ll get a different effect.

“It’s really the size of the cuticle that determines how Beautifying Oil respond to the hair,” he says.

People with Asian hair have closed cuticles—if they apply the oil to dry hair, they will have a shiny effect. People with African-American hair more open cuticles.

“If an African-American woman puts it in her hair, it won’t increase the shine, but it will soften the hair,” Chris says. “You will get more shine when you polish and close the hair cuticle by blowing the hair dry.”

Caucasian hair also tends to have wider cuticles, Chris says, and Caucasians should blow-dry their hair with Beautifying Oil to achieve shine.

Chris says his wife loves to travel with Beautifying Oil. “She uses it on her fingers, elbows, her legs after shaving, our boys’ faces if they’re in the sun too long,” Chris says. “It’s like an old-school remedy your grandmother would use.”

Aveda Texture Tonic

“This is a fantastic product,” Chris says. “It really, really works.”

Designed to give hair the naturally beachy, textured, tousled appearance it has after the day at the shore, most texture sprays contain salt. But the problem, Chris says, is that texture sprays containing salt end up dulling the hair. Not so with the brand-new Texture Tonic.

“Aveda Texture Tonic has more sugar than salt,” Chris says. “I haven’t experienced any dulling of the hair color, which is a huge improvement from other products. And it isn’t sticky or weighty—it’s super light.”

Chris likes to apply Texture Tonic to wet hair and comb it through for a slight natural wave. Air-drying hair with Texture Tonic leads to a more tactile finish, Chris says—“It would feel a little gritty, dirty and cool.”

If you apply the spray and follow with a diffuser, the effect is the same, but the hair’s wave pattern is even more enhanced.

Chris also likes applying to spray to dry hair for a quick change. It’s an especially handy tool for people going straight from the office to cocktail hour. Just spray it into your hair to switch up the texture and appearance.

“If you’re going out after work and you wanted something more unpolished, you could spray it into hair and scrunch it in there,” Chris says.

The petite, recycled bottle is also purse- and workplace-friendly.

“It would be difficult to put mousse in your hair at work, but you could mist this in your hair in the bathroom stall,” Chris says. “No one would notice you did anything.”

Whether you want to take the new Texture Tonic for a spin or get reacquainted with the classic Beautifying Oil, we’re here for you! Come by Paris Parker for these and other life-changing products.

Everyone loves a good comeback—and we can’t possibly think of a better one than Aveda’s return of Cherry Almond Shampoo and Conditioner. Right on cue in the middle of summer, this sweet, juicy aroma is our new go-to (probably far beyond summer’s end, too).

It’s no secret—we’re not ones to think inside the box. Chris Guidry, Hair Design Education Director for our Prytania location, isn’t either—and had an idea brewing atypical of some of our previous photo shoots. Of course, we let him work his magic, and the finished product produced these glossy, avant-garde vibes that we definitely weren’t prepared for. (But can’t get enough of.)